Good on ya, Jai Hindley!
Il est vraiment un champion!
Bloody awesome! Looked in control for the whole stage really. It will be interesting to see if he can win the whole thing.
I think it’s unlikely given the strength of his competitors and his lack of experience at the Tour. The fact that he has won a Grand Tour before proves that he can manage 3 weeks of racing, though, so I think that’s a reason to be excited about him. Other Australian GC contenders in recent years, like Porte and O’Connor, have really struggled to survive without incident.
I’d love him to win it, but he seems to have made the breakaway a bit by accident / luck and that’s what got him into yellow. He’s strong, but don’t think he could have held onto Vingegaard for that last climb, had he been in the main group.
Watched him win the Giro though and would love him to win the Tour as well.
Hindley didn’t make the breakaway by luck; it was a deliberate move (as was his attack on the final climb to win the stage). He was, however, lucky with the amount of time given to him by both UAE and Jumbo throughout the stage. Both teams were a little too preoccupied with each other and let him get too far up the road. Ultimately 30 seconds is nothing at this stage of the race (Vingegaard put 1 minute into Pogacar last night) so he’ll have to ride very well to retain the lead.
Yeah, completely agree. When I say he made it by luck I was referring more to the fact the he was a) allowed in the break, and b) given so much time because no one seemed to notice until they were too far up the road.
Considering how dominant those two guys are, I can sort of understand why they would let Hindley get in a break. They really are 100% focused on each other and nothing else. It’s not a risk I would take, though, considering he is a complete unknown at the TdF and has won a GT very recently.
Should be a good watch tonight with another mountain stage. Col du Tourmalet always looks fun lol
